[Fic] -- IWoT chapter 06 (2nd ed)

[yatsuka]

A few hours after the next sunrise, Hatake Kakashi had risen from his night's post on top of a street lamp. Nothing unusual had happened except for a cat that kept on wandering between the house he was watching and the one adjacent to it. But now that the sun was up, the jounin stretched his neck and sighed. Keeping up his genjutsu had been difficult, but manageable. No one had suspected a thing.

Well, at least not yet…

And out of the corner of his visible eye, he happened to see something out of the ordinary. A suspicious-looking man wearing a hood in billowing black robes had appeared out of nowhere and was heading straight for the house he had under surveillance.

It was at this time that the jounin decided to intervene…

The last thing he remembered was a pair of dangerously haughty eyes that seemed to look down upon him with disdain and a spell that made him give up information he hadn't been willing to part with.

"State your name and purpose."

"I am Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am here to see to the well-being of Mr. Harry James Potter residing with a Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley on Albus Dumbledore's behalf…"

He tried to fight it - what ever was causing him to behave like a puppet that behaved very much like what an Imperio would do. His captor seemed to notice his resistance and smirked at his futile attempt.

"Nice try."

Then something hit the back of his neck that made a wave of black sweep across his vision.

In Way of Trouble

Chapter 06: "Forget Me Not"

By Hikagi

It was after many hours upon discovering that Kakashi-sensei was missing (well, since last night) that they started to get extremely worried. Sakura was pacing back and forth in their designated meeting room, which happened to be hers for the time being due to the ample amount of space available. Sasuke was leafing through one of many books Sakura had been trying to decipher yesterday, scowling at the language that seemed to have no rhythm or rhyme. The alphabet was simple enough with twenty-six letters - at least they didn't have to bother with two sets of basic letters and the bazillion kanji characters - but everything else was difficult. The grammatical structure, verb tenses, articles, plurality and all that other crap didn't make too much sense in his mind.

And while the Uchiha prodigy was studying about the native language in the vicinity, Naruto was busy admiring the weird gadgets that filled the room. Sounds like 'what's this?' 'hey looket that!' and 'cool!' came from his mouth everything he poked at the random objects.

Usually their instructor was only three hours late, if things were going well. Sometimes he would claim that it was to keep them on their toes, but that excuse didn't work too well. During the more peaceful seasons, his punctuality was always an issue. After the attack on the Hidden Leaf, however, there were too many missions to sort through for anyone to goof off. But this time, he didn't show up at all. No warning, no notice, no "I'm sorry I'm late!" speech.

"You guys! This looks like a light bulb!" Naruto's sudden proclamation shook Sakura's thoughts out of her head.

"That's because it is one, Naruto," she answered.

"I know, I know," he replied while edging closer to the rest of his group. As if he were about to reveal a great secret, he lowered his voice and pronounced in an excited whisper, "But check this out: it doesn't turn on!"

And usually, Naruto was a complete idiot. But he had a point here. Most of the items in the 'wizarding' world didn't seem to run off of electricity. So how did things work then?

"It's simple."

Shikamaru peeled himself off the wall on the other side of the room.

"These people rely on their chakra to supply the energy needed to support all their appliances."

Not really understanding much about the foreign environment and its gadgets, Sakura probed him for more information.

"Eh? How do you do that?"

Shikamaru paused a little as if to gather his thoughts.

"Well, since our worlds are on the opposite sides of the planet, I can't really explain how it came to be this way. But the Western world calls their chakra 'magic'." (1)

At this point, Naruto turned back to the light-bulb thing and proceeded to stare at it, as if willing it to turn on would make it do so. Sakura ignored him and continued her conversation.

"Why would they do that?"

He shrugged.

"I suppose it has a lot to do with the differences in culture. Asian philosophies tend to state that our spiritual energy is a natural part of all living creatures and our daily lives. Europeans, however, believe that this force is supernatural and is to be feared. That's why there are so many rumors and superstitions where wizards and witches are concerned."

'Oh, so that's why…'

"And what about the people who don't have a lot of magic reserve?"

"I'm not too sure, but I believe that they don't get the opportunity to join the rest of the people who have magic. In order to get into their schools, you have to display a certain amount of ability."

She frowned.

"That's unfair! What about the people who have the knowledge of the wizarding world, but don't have the power to study in its schools?"

Shikamaru mentally sighed and smashed himself on the head for starting this conversation in the first place. He hated explaining things to people because they expected you to know all the answers to their questions. He would much rather be outside watching the clouds again… Call him strange, but the way they drifted across the sky was very different than the way they floated above the buildings of Konoha Gakure.

"Those people are called 'squibs'. From what I understand, they would be very much like the ninja who have never passed the academy or attended one in the first place. On the other hand, there are people who have never heard of the magical community until their children exhibit promising qualities."

"Then what are those people called?"

"The term for non magical folk is 'muggle'. Children who come from these families are called 'muggle-born'."

"What I don't understand is the level of name-calling in this society. It's almost as if they want to remain separated from the rest of the groups. Why do people place names on others?"

"It's not only in this country. Konoha Gakure does it too, although you might not realize it. There's the Hyuuga clan - they separated themselves into the Main and House branches to demonstrate their superiority, remember?"

'Like Neji,' was implied, but Shikamaru didn't have to say it out loud for the kunoichi to catch his drift. She understood, and nodded silently to herself, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"Oh… I see…"

"Ministry of Magic?" Sakura asked a few minutes later after Sasuke and Shikamaru brought up the topic of looking for Kakashi-sensei.

"Yeah. It's the name for the government here, kind of like what our Hokage does, except it's a group of people," the Uchiha explained.

Suspicious, Sakura fidgeted in her spot on the floor as they all sat in a circle.

"Where'd you learn of this?"

'I hope you didn't threaten someone with a kunai or something…'

As if sensing her thoughts, the chunnin raised an eyebrow.

"Some girl downstairs said that that was the most reasonable place to go look for him."

'Oh…'

And then…

Poof!

"Yo!"

Silence greeted the jounin.

"I'm sorry I'm late! You see, I was out all night watching over an interesting house in the middle of nowhere when a strange-looking person walked down the street and was clobbered by another weird person who showed up without a trace. Then he seemed to have noticed me because the next thing I knew, I was tied up and hanging upside-down next to the first guy who got jumped. Then the guy woke up and looked at me strange before trying to get out of his ropes before he got frustrated and asked me for help. Then there was a bunch of screaming inside the house, so I decided to go check it out after easily slipping out of the rope (the man looked surprised) and crawling up the wall and into the second floor. And then…" he trailed off. (2)

The three genin and one chunnin were looking at him strangely. Shikamaru's face clearly said, 'Is this what happens all the time?' The other three were casting suspicious glances in his general direction. Normally, any of the excuses he used were too mundane to be true. But this one was so completely random and strange that Team 7 didn't know if he had fabricated it or not.

'Uso!' they all thought. But after so many frustrating hours of searching, they just completely shut down, and decided not to ask.

After a few seconds, Team 7 got up from their circle and everyone went back to what they had been doing approximately half an hour ago. Sakura flopped back on her bed while holding a book over her head, Naruto studied the random objects (while occasionally asking his jounin instructor something), and Sasuke ignored the rest of the team. Shikamaru sighed and announced that he would be somewhere else, and promptly disappeared through the window (which Sakura was sure that couldn't be opened).

None of them seemed to notice that the door had slid open and another person had just entered the room and was watching their proceedings with an amused banter.

Earlier that morning…

"Harry Potter? Never heard of him. My sister was married to a man named Potter, but they died years ago in a car accident after they had too much to drink from a Halloween party."

There was a crash followed by a few muffled thuds from under the stairway.

"What exactly are you trying to hide from me, Dursley? Is it something you don't want me to find?" the man asked in an almost dangerous tone. "Is it, by chance, hidden in that place under the stairs? I've noticed that you tended to glance in that direction every time I hit upon a tedious subject."

'Oh crapcrapcrapcrapcr-'

And quite suddenly, Harry Potter found himself staring face-to-face with a man he had never seen before in his life.

"Hello, Mr. Potter. Good to be finally meeting you at last."

There was a slight prickling sensation in his legs and the back of his neck as the somewhat handsome man reached in and hauled the skinny teenager out of the closet. Vernon was going a shade of livid purple as he gapped for words.

"I… um… I, ah…"

The 'social worker' brushed off his pants from the settling closet dust and stood up to face Harry's uncle.

"I'm afraid we must leave you now," he said. He reached for the suitcase he had left next to the wall when he had first entered the Dursley's residence. Turning to Harry, he gave the boy a little nod, then started for the door. Vernon stormed up to his nephew and yanked on his arm.

"Get back to your room!" he whispered harshly. A voice from the door interrupted them.

"I don't think so."

The brown-haired man slowly turned around to gaze into their eyes. For an instant, Harry could have sworn that his eyes turned from a light brown color to black and back again. His hair turned into the lightest shade of gray. And that his neat suit fazed into some sort of weird navy getup before shifting once more to the clean-pressed attire. But as quickly as these changes happened, they disappeared, leaving The Boy Who Lived nothing more than a slight ache in is head and a strange sensation behind his eyes.

"I don't think you understand…"

'Severus Snape' shifted his glasses further up his nose before glaring at Vernon with an icy stare.

"He's coming with me."

Correction, not Severus Snape…

Ow.

That was the first coherent thought Snape could muster up when he returned to the land of the living. That and… ow.

There was a ringing sensation that was overwhelming him. It felt like Longbottom had taken a cauldron full of Swelling Potion, mixed it with a generous amount of the Weasley twins' Exploding Firecrackers, and had blown up the entire dungeon with him right next to it. Either that, or Black and Potter (without the consent of Pettigrew and Lupin) had managed to rig another one of their pranks in the Slytherin common room with the intention of maiming anyone within the vicinity… again.

Taking a good look at his surroundings, he barely registered the fact that it was sunny outside. There didn't appear to be too many people from up here, which was always a good thing. Too many muggles tended to make him uncomfortable and nervous. Come to think of it, too many people in general did not suit his likings.

Wait a minute…

Outside?

…Up here?

Snape took another look around.

Ye gads! What was he doing on a rooftop?

Trying to calm himself, he took a steadying breath and attempted to find his wand. That is, if whoever jumped him didn't take it in the first place.

Well, he tried to look for it at least…

After wondering why he couldn't seem to move his arm, he realized that it was tied snuggly to his side. The waves of pain didn't help in his case either, since that was what was causing his nerves to not work properly in the first place. Cursing at his situation, he almost failed to see the man who was tied up next to him until he made himself known.

"Yo."

'Gah!'

Snape stared incredulously at the calm man who greeted him on top of a house, tied up and defenseless as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Who the heck was this guy anyway?

"Looks like you're in a little trouble as well…"

Snape didn't trust himself to speak. The headache was going to make his speech unintelligible anyhow.

"Hey, how about if we get out of this mess?"

Finally bringing up the nerve (no pun intended even with that incessant pounding in the back of his head), he gritted out a response.

"And how do you propose we do that?"

The man shrugged.

"Simple."

And he just bloody stepped out of his bindings.

"It's a basic skill from our academy days."

The man waited for Snape to do the same, but realized that he was unable to do so.

"… Here, lemme get that for you," he said while stepping closer to where the professor was neatly tied up.

The stranger slowly made his way closer to Vernon and Harry. Harry found himself shirking back, trying to hide behind his uncle. Who ever this guy was, he didn't seem trust worthy.

"As I said before, the boy is coming with me."

He had a bad feeling about this. And Hermione always said that his intuition was usually correct… It wasn't just one of those general bad feelings - the source of his discomfort seemed to center around the man himself. The only other time this had happened was around the Death Eaters, Voldemort himself, and those bloody Dementors…

But despite him trying to hide behind another person, the social worker reached out and grabbed at Harry.

"Y-you! Leave him alone!"

Harry didn't know that his uncle could find that much in himself to care for 'that blasted boy'. He would have been more touched if it weren't for the man who was trying to drag him away.

"Hey! Lemme go! Get your hands off me!"

It didn't seem like Vernon was thinking very clearly for he hurled himself at the man. In return, he got a sharp kick in the gut and a swipe to his face.

It was at this point when Petunia started screaming.

"There you go," the man said as the ropes fell with a soft thud onto the rooftop shingles. Snape took a glance at the severed bindings while he rubbed his sore wrists when he noticed a distinct smell that he recognized as burnt hair. How did he do that? He had no wand on him and had said no incantations (in Latin at least), but the guy was able to burn the ropes off of him.

Snape put all other thoughts aside and gave a curt nod to the stranger.

"I believe that the term is 'I owe you one'."

The stranger just waved a hand in response. There was a shrill voice that resounded through the roof tiles that immediately set the two men on edge.

"Forget it. I believe we have a more pressing issue at hand."

Snape reached for his wand on the inside of his professor's robes, but his hands grasped at nothing but empty space where his stick was supposed to be. Damn, so his captor had taken it away. The other man noticed the Potions Master's predicament and audibly sighed.

"Unless you have any better suggestions…" he made a motion towards the brick statue that wasn't too far away from their current position.

Oh bloody hell no. Never. He wasn't going to go down that.

"After you," Snape heard himself say. The man shrugged and nimbly climbed up the rough bricks before disappearing over the chimney edge.

This fool was crazy. If being stranded on top of a god-forsaken house was bad enough, he had to be marooned without his wand, without a portkey, and with some nut case who was as loony as the Headmaster. Snape mildly realized the reason why he hated traveling by Floo as he followed the foreigner down into the chimney.

…If he got stuck here like the Muggle Santa Claus, he was going to gleefully hex the man into oblivion… Just as soon as he got his wand back…

"I should kill you for your insolence!" the social worker hissed into Vernon's ear all the while holding a struggling Harry with his hands behind his back. Vernon merely whimpered pitifully as the man held a sharp knife at the edge of his throat. Dudley and Petunia could only sit back and watch in terror as the head of the house was being threatened by this unknown stranger.

Then there was something like gravel falling out of the chimney and what sounded like a large body landing in the grate of the fireplace.

"Well, it seems that the fireplace is closed off with an ample amount of wood," Harry heard someone say.

Cripes. If this guy had backup, then he was really screwed. Where were the Order Members when you really needed them?

Just then, Harry felt another prickling sensation on the back of his neck as the voice from the chimney spoke out yet again.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (3)

Quidditch instincts sinking in, he barely had enough time to let out a, "Duck!" to no one in particular before something exploded in the other room. The wood Vernon had used to seal off the fireplace after his first year's fiasco with the delivering owls (that had been reinforced with sturdier iron gates after the 'Weasley Incident') was blown out of its place by a wave of fire.

"Long time no see, traitor."

The man who still had a grip on his arms didn't seem at all fazed and instead merely greeted the figure that was carefully walking over the debris and rubble caused by forcing the grate outwards.

"Kakashi-san. How nice of you to join us today," Harry's captor said while offering the chimney-man a mock bow.

"I don't know what you are planning on, but you're not taking the boy."

The man known as Kakashi took careful steps towards Harry and the man who was holding him hostage.

"Me, planning? You know that pawns don't plan anything. I was merely here on orders."

And quite suddenly, pain erupted from the scar on his forehead, making the boy collapse in a heap on the floor. The social worker took an impossible leap backwards towards the door while the spiky-haired man rushed towards Harry's side.

"What did you do to him, Kabuto? What sort of curse seal did you use?"

'Kabuto' grinned in a haughty manner.

"Unfortunately, I didn't get to do anything to him."

"Then what is this on his forehead?" the man demanded while reaching for the metal plate that was covering the left side of his face.

Kabuto stopped smirking and replied in a serious, cold voice, "Maybe you should ask your new friend that."

It was then that Harry faintly realized through the haze around his vision and the pain that there was another figure in the room that was standing next to the fireplace.

'Professor Snape!'

The one-eyed man ignored that last comment and instead kept his attention on the person who had threatened Harry's life.

"I'll deal with you first."

"Ha. As cocky as ever, Kakashi. But no matter,I have no interest in fighting you."

"You're not taking the boy."

"Maybe not today, but soon."

There was a fierce gust of wind as the front door slammed open with an unnatural force. Harry struggled to keep his eyes open, but a rustling sound over his head and the feeling of something rushing past his face made him flinch. As soon as he was able to see again, the man was gone, but the unspoken threat that the wind had carried was not.

'Soon… We will meet again…'

"Just who are you?" Harry demanded as soon as he got an ice pack from the freezer and applied it to his scar. The Dursleys had high-tailed it out of the kitchen and into the dinning room as soon as the group of unique individuals had started coming their way.

"Ah, that's supposed to be a secret, but my name's Kakashi. I helped your professor escape from the roof. Apparently we both got ambushed by the same guy."

Harry nodded while looking for some sort of painkiller for his headache.

"Now, what's this whole business about The Boy Who Lived?" Kakashi asked as Harry fingered a small white bottle of Advil on the shelf. The boy stared incredulously at the man.

"You don't know?"

He shrugged.

"You could say that I'm not from around here."

Harry was at a loss for words.

"But I thought that the whole wizarding world knew!"

"That's because he's not a wizard," Snape interjected as he walked over towards where Harry was, pointing a thumb in the other man's general direction.

"Wha-?" was his intelligent response as the Potions Master calmly took the bottle of medicine from his hands and started opening random cabinets located throughout the room. But Harry was a little too astounded to notice that his professor was currently going through his kitchen, looking for a glass of water.

"Is that true?" he asked while turning towards his rescuer again.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ha ha… You got me there."

There was a slight pause as the Hogwarts professor found a cup in one of the shelves and filled it with sink water. He swallowed a headache pill before handing the cup and bottle to Harry.

"You're a shinobi, aren't you," Snape said after he made sure that the boy had taken the medicine as well.

"A shin-what?" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself.

"It's their term for 'ninja'," Snape quickly explained.

"Are you sure that that is all there is to it?" Kakashi asked after Snape had given him a brief history about the war involving the Dark Lord and some of the main events that had led to the current situation.

'He didn't include any of my escapades, but that just about sums it up…'

The oily-haired man nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, I'm fairly certain. Unless Potter has something to add?"

Harry's head looked up sharply.

"No…"

"Well, in that case, I have to go." Kakashi dusted off his pants.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, but just a moment too soon. Kakashi stopped just short of the front door before coming to a decision and waltzing back into the kitchen.

"But first, Mr. Potter…"

Harry straightened in his seat. Something wasn't right.

"I'm afraid I'll have to cast a memory jutsu on you."

Memory jutsu, as in Obliviate? No way!

"Do you object?"

Harry began forming the words for 'Hell yes!' when Snape interrupted his train of thought.

"Do as he says," he said, giving his consent for the jounin to do whatever he had in store.

"Well, I hope you don't mind, this will only take a second or two. It'll change the events you have just experienced until I release the skill, got it?" (4)

Harry gritted his teeth.

"You sure it's okay?" Kakashi asked once more, but it was directed more towards Snape this time.

"I have no objections," the man replied. Kakashi turned back towards Harry as he began moving his hands in a sequence of seals…

"Don't worry. It won't hurt a bit…"

And then he woke up.

A slight numb feeling in his left leg told him that it was asleep - he must have dozed off while Vernon was showing his guest around. It didn't seem like too much time had passed, but apparently it was enough for the social worker. The brown-haired man left after exchanging a few more words with his uncle and aunt without ever suspecting a thing. With a curt nod and a handshake, the source of the past few hours' worth of excitement and disturbance in their otherwise 'normal' life was gone out the door and out of their hair.

And if the closing of the front door wasn't a signal for Harry to come out of the closet, then he didn't know what was. Swinging the closet door wide open, the teenager gingerly stepped over the random objects that were strewn across the cramped floor. With the exception of a few sore or cramped muscles, he was relatively unharmed.

Fate must have been smiling down upon him for the Dursleys decided to leave him alone for the rest of the day. Not questioning his good luck, Harry made a dash for his room and started working on the Potions essay that was due at the start of the term.

As it turned out, there was another guest that arrived barely an hour later. When Petunia opened the door, Harry could hear her sputter from his room as she almost did not allow the visitor admittance. Curious, he carefully set his school things aside and sneaked towards the top of the stairs to get a good peek at the stranger.

'Great - it's Snape.'

"Mr. Potter," the professor acknowledged with a hint of disdain. At what, Harry wasn't too sure. It could have been the 'vibe' his muggle relatives were giving off, or it could have just been the man's hatred for James and any of his descendants. Either way, The Boy Who Lived was stuck with this guy.

"Come gather your things - we will be leaving for your manor in a little bit."

The front door to the unplottable house closed, vanishing into nothingness as did the rest of the house. The man who had been on the front steps walked back down towards the sidewalk, his task completed.

"Well, that takes care of this fiasco," another man said from a nearby tree branch.

"Indeed," the first figure replied. "I thank you for getting my wand back." The second jumped from his resting place and gracefully connected with the concrete.

"I trust I will be seeing you around at the start of the term then?" the first asked towards the second while straightening his robes.

"Ah - that remains to be seen… I haven't received all the details of my assignment yet."

A man in a crisp business suit walked down a dimly lit hallway with a suitcase in one hand and a set of what appeared to be keys in the other. He stopped in front of a particular corridor and plunged into the dark passageway, neither bothering to reach for a light or placing a hand on the wall.

After a few feet the passage made a sharp turn to the right, and then another to the left. Still in complete darkness, the man shifted his glasses and continued walking through the maze of forks and turns with intent and purpose in his steps. After many dizzying maneuvers, a light filtered in from overhead as the tunnel opened up to a vast underground chamber.

The man stepped into the light and his neat attire flickered off, revealing a pair of black shorts and shirt with a purple cloth tied around his waist. He knelt in reverence in front of a shadowy figure in the center of the room.

"Orochimaru-sama… Kakashi is here. It seems as if the Godaime sent him."

The man's lips curved upwards in a cruel smile.

"Ku ku… As expected. Was anyone else with him?"

"Just one of the professors."

"And what about his genin team?"

"As far as I could tell, they weren't with him at the time, but that could be because he decided to leave them elsewhere."

"I see. Good job, my servant."

A pause.

"What about Sasuke-kun?"

"Ho, ho! Do not worry about him - as I said before, he will come looking for me. The thirst for power drives him so."

"Should we tell the others about the arrival of the Konoha shinobi?"

"No need, no need. He will find out soon enough. Besides, they will add an interesting spin to our plans…"

"Hai."

Hermione Granger was taking the last bite out of her eggs while listening to a mild-mannered Neville Longbottom in the dinning hall of the Leaky Cauldron. They had met in the streets of Muggle London while heading for the entrance into the wizarding world through The Leaky Cauldron. Neville was stopping by today to get his school supplies as well as a few groceries that couldn't be found in the local supermarkets. His grandmother was currently in Diagon Alley looking for some new clothes and parchments - she told him that he could go wait outside for her.

They were chatting idly over trivial matters since they hadn't seen each other since school had let up last 'year'. Neville said that his mom seemed to be getting better. She said his name a few times in her sleep the last time he had gone to St. Mungo's to visit.

Why wasn't she at the Burrow? After last year's events, Dumbledore had deemed it hazardous for the Golden Trio to stay anywhere that was not heavily guarded by Order members. That included the Weasleys' small but cozy house on top of the hill despite it being the residence of six and a half (Ron wasn't quite old enough to be considered as one) members.

But after staying week after week in the late Sirius Black's gloomy mansion, Hermione had had enough. Order meetings and scrimmages had taken its toil on the brilliant witch as she sat in her dimly lit room desperately trying to study. What made it worse was that she knew all of the horrendous attacks were happening, but she couldn't do anything to stop them. The Headmaster had specifically warned her against involving herself in any of the Death Eater battles since she was a likely target by Voldemort's orders.

That and the fact that the Ministry was still slow on the up taking made her one extremely frustrated witch. She wasn't even allowed to send Harry detailed letters because the goddamn government was probably still checking his mail. She had sent an encrypted letter to him a while ago saying that she might come and visit him, but failed to do so due to circumstances. Merlin knewhow horrible his relatives were!

After much debate and pleading, she was finally given permission to go to Little Whinging, Surrey as long as she was accompanied by a member of The Order. She consented, but her escort turned out to be Snape - and he refused to take her. Finally feed up, she decided to leave the shelter of Grimmauld Place. To hell with security and all that junk! If the Death Eaters really wanted her, then they would have found a way to get to her by this point in time. Besides, hadn't she survived on her own up until now? Wasn't she old enough and responsible for her own well being?

She took the opportunity to leave the headquarters of the main resistance against the Dark Lord the next morning when Snape left via the kitchen fire. Flooing to Diagon Alley, Hermione decided to lodge at The Leaky Cauldron. But due to the number of Hogwarts students filing in, Tom said that she might have to share a room with another person. She had agreed, but decided to check in after she did a little shopping in Muggle London.

Suddenly, a flustered boy ran into the room, interrupting their conversation. He stared at the two students before coming to a halt as if he didn't seem to know what to do. Finally, he tried to communicate with them through a series of hand gestures and broken sentences.

"You… have seen, man?" He made a motion for a height.

Hermione wasn't sure as to what she was supposed to make of him. The young teenage boy clearly needed some sort of assistance looking for someone, but with his accent and trouble forming coherent words, she didn't know if she could be of any help. Besides, there were hundreds of people in Diagon Alley - how could she be sure that she could find this man the boy was looking for when she didn't even know how he looked like?

"He…" the boy trailed off clearly frustrated.

"What he try to say, we look for our guardian."

The three turn around to see a lazy pony-tailed boy sitting on top of a bookshelf. The first boy half glared at the new comer who was speaking English at a relatively easier rate.

"He… ditched us yesterday…"

"Oh…" Hermione pondered. "Well, in that case, I suppose you could go down to the Ministry of Magic and submit a file of a missing person."

"Ministry of Magic?" the first boy echoed.

The pony-tailed teenager noticed the change in his friend's accent and looked up sharply.

"Uchiha, stop it. You know you're not supposed to be using the Sharingan here. What if they notice?"

Hermione turned to look at the black-haired boy. She didn't know what it was at first, but he looked… different, for lack of a better word. There was something clearly wrong with the picture. Neville seemed to have noticed because he nudged the girl with his elbows and whispered in her ears.

"Look at his eyes!"

Squinting as she did so, Hermione took a good look at the boy's eyes, noting that the irises had changed color. But as soon as she blinked, they were black, making her wonder if she had just imagined it in the first place. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

Perhaps she had been expecting something strange when she turned and found, instead, something perfectly normal, so her mind conjured up the weirdness for her? Five years of attending Hogwarts with the infamous Harry Potter and accompanying him on his adventures did tend to make one paranoid about strange and mysterious occurrences.

"At least use a genjutsu next time…"

"Fine, Nara."

With that exchange, the messy-haired foreigner frumpily stalked out of the room, leaving Hermione and Neville in a slight state of confusion.

"What's his problem?"

'Ponytails' sighed and rubbed his temples. "He had frustrating day…" (5)

"I don't like him, Hermione."

Sigh.

Really, if this was going to keep up, Hermione was going to say that Neville was starting to act more like Ron… Exasperated, she tried to reassure him that there was nothing strange about the foreign guest.

"Don't worry, Neville. We'll probably never see him again. He looked like a tourist."

He seemed unconvinced, but let the matter go.

"Well, I have to get going to Grams," he said after a moment's hesitation.

"I have to go to my room and introduce myself to someone. Tom said that I was going to share my room. Meet you back at school."

"Bye."

Hermione nodded and slowly trudged up the stairs that led to her room. She opened the door quietly, hoping not to disturb anyone if the room was occupied. Her supposed roommate looked up upon the bushy-haired girl's entrance and stared at her briefly. It didn't seem like she was alone in here either. The boy from earlier was busy reading some book in a corner of the room, and two other strangers were supposedly arguing with each other near the windows.

"Anata wa…" she trailed off with a slightly confused tone in her voice. The other three males turned to face the door and saw the newcomer. Hermione froze in place, not knowing what to do. From the looks of it, no one here knew how to speak her language! Where was that pony-tailed boy when you needed him?

The girl, at once sensing her discomfort, said a few words to her friends. They shrugged and left the room, shuffling past Hermione. The girl relaxed once her friends were gone and gave a small smile towards the Gryffindor prefect.

"Ohayou gozaimasu! Watashi wa Haruno Sakura desu. Anata no 'ruum meitu' desu yo."

Here, the pink-haired girl faltered, as if she wasn't too sure as to what she was to do next. After stumbling a little bit with a few words that sounded a bit like English, Hermione sighed and took out her wand.

"Here, let me help you with that."

She performed a temporary translation spell because she didn't know how to do a long lasting one (most of her charms faded off after an hour or so), and took a step back.

"That's better - but it should last only for a little while. Can you understand me now?"

The pink-haired girl blinked, before speaking up cautiously.

"Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno, and I'm your new roommate."

"Hermione Granger," she said, shaking hands. "I hope that my stay here won't bother you."

Sakura beamed.

"Not at all, Granger-san!" (6)

To Be Continued…

Author's Notes:

Oi… I have a really bad habit of not getting off my lazy butt to write chapters anymore… Sometimes I wonder if I have Nara blood in me…

I tried to make the differences between native and non-native languages more reader-friendly, but there's only so much I can do… XD - plus, I suck at writing character interactions.

Updates: Doesn't look like they'll be any more regular than they've been the past… year… or so… On the other hand, the chapters are getting significantly longer (this last one was a bit too long), so now I'm worried about the pace of the story in general. At this rate, I don't know if I'll ever finish. I'm considering about making the chapters shorter from now on unless the readers disagree… If you're wondering about my other current Naruto (NaruHina) fanfic I Am Not Alone, it's been discontinued/taken down.

Spoilers: please go to my profile and click on the links provided there. There are two that pertain to IWoT - one is the most recent spoiler for the next chapter, and the other is a folder that contains all previous bits of fanarts.

1. Magic versus Chakra: I'm sidestepping this whole issue here - aren't I a good lazy bum?

2. Kakashi's Story: Yes, I know that Kakashi's "explanation" contradicted what had actually gone on, but I'm just attributing that to his love for coming up with lies on a whim - you know, the whole I'm-sorry-I'm-three-hours-late-but-I-just-had-to-help-this-cat-out-of-a-tree-for-the-fifty-eighth-million-time-in-the-last-two-days gig.

3. Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu: Fire Element: Powerful Fireball Skill

4. Memory Jutsu: It made Harry's encounter with Kabuto be replaced by something that never happened. Kakashi made Harry forget about the whole "I'm holding you hostage" ordeal and instead constructed a 'memory' that the social worker was just that, and left the house after finding nothing.

5. Language Barriers: Some people asked why I couldn't have Sasuke just copy the entire English language off of someone using the Sharingan - after all, wasn't Kakashi able to speak English? Well, to make it short, I've decided that Sasuke's Bloodline Limit allows him to mimic the movements of other people, but not extract any knowledge that pertains to what he has copied; kinda like Echo from Greek Mythology. So Sasuke can repeat words and phrases back, but that doesn't mean he understands what he is saying. Kakashi, however, just happens to have studied the language before hand. Shikamaru, I have come to a conclusion, is a brilliant, but lazy, student - he figured the very basics of the language after watching Sasuke stumble through it all night while he was reading Sakura's borrowed book. Shika also listened to the random conversations from the rooftop and tried working out his accent while picking up idioms and expressions. That doesn't mean that he is fluent in it though. Sakura only knows from what little she has learned from the books available to her, and thus is more of a book student than one who would be able to speak the language - theory versus practice. Naruto, as you know, probably doesn't know a word nor will he care to ever pick up a book out of his own free will.

6. Honorifics: Since these don't really translate well into English, I've decided to keep them for the time being.

Yatsuka Hikagi

June 09, 2005